Great Barrier Island, New Zealand
01/02/2008 - 01/23/2008
One barracuda....
Decisions, decisions. One of the "problems" with New Zealand is the number of beautiful places to go - on land and sea. Rather than sticking with the original plan of heading to Whitanga on the Coromandel peninsula, we decided to head to Great Barrier Island. We love Great Barrier Island and there are so many anchorages we have yet to explore. Up came the anchor and we headed northwest from Great Mercury Island toward the Barrier on a beautiful sunny day. The forecast looked promising for some sailing rather than motoring.
Duncan rigged the new pink lures on the fishing lines we occasionally drag behind the boat. Bam! A instant call of " Fish on" squealed Robin. How exciting. "These new lures must really work" we both thought as Duncan reeled in out catch. Dang - a barracuda. Duncan tossed the barracuda back. We could have used the barracuda bits for bait, but chose to skip this. Back in the water with the lures. Bam! Bam! "Fish on. Wait, there are two. " yelled Robin before Duncan could get the fish glove off from the last fish. One fish managed to shake loose the hook. We brought the remaining fish in only to discover another barracuda. Hmmm, perhaps we should skip fishing until we get away from all of the barracuda. In came the lures and thus concluded our fishing for the day. If we kept the pink lures in the water snagging barracuda, we may never make it to Great Barrier.
Two barracuda. Stop.
Let's just enjoy watching the dolphins play on the bow rather than catching barracuda.
After coming through Man-O-War passage, we returned to the Barrier for the fourth visit since arriving in New Zealand.
The trip from the Mercury Islands to Great Barrier is approximately 40 nautical miles. Initially, we had very little wind. The wind filled in allowing to sail for a couple hours until we ended up in behind the island. Duncan hoisted the gennaker and, of course, the wind dropped to 0. Down came the gennaker and we motored the remainder of the way in to the anchorage.
For the first few days in our new location, we worked on website content, performed boat maintenance, and discovered the new world of kayaking in mangroves. We enjoyed several great paddles in little streams and rivers. We thoroughly enjoy long paddles exploring nooks and crannies inaccessible by dinghy. Another benefit of the kayak is we are more inclined to paddle up to other boats in the anchorages and say hello. Approaching a boat in kayak seems so much less disruptive than zipping up in the dinghy with the outboard buzzing. As a result of the kayaking, we chatted with quite a few folks along the way.
Determined to catch some fish, Robin confidently places squid on the hook.
Catching small fish and rocks are Robin's expertise. Duncan works hard to reel in the rock or kelp Robin caught on this attempt.
Occasionally, legal sized fish jump on the hook and we have dinner. In the case of the Blue Mao Mao, Robin perfected the technique of hooking the fish in the eye socket rather than waste the time to have them eat the bait.
With over a month's worth of laundry, we decided to hire a car in Port Fitzroy and drive to the nearest laundromat in Claris.
The island's big event of the year - The Great Fitzroy Mussel Fest. As one friend asked of the festival - how many mussels are too many mussels? For us, the answer is 7.
With plans to attend the Mussel Fest in Port Fitzroy, we moseyed over to the anchorage near the town of Port Fitzroy. The anchorage was quite busy as with several boat-loads of people planning to attend the festival. A couple of nights before the festival, the wind picked up and the anchorage was a bit scary with boats dragging everywhere in the questionable holding. Whisper had a near miss with a pink steel boat dragging by in the middle of the night. Luckily, Duncan was able to wake up the skipper as the boat drifted within 10 feet of hitting Whisper. The next morning we moved out of the anchorage to a less busy, better holding area to facilitate a better night's sleep.
Tah Dah! Duncan navigated the unsealed road to the Claris laundromat without a hiccup - okay, it is the only road on the island.
Here is the trusty laundress. Actually, laundry is usually a joint effort as Duncan folds a mean t-shirt.
With the mobility of the rental car, we decided to venture off the beaten path to a beautiful spot in Haratonga Bay. We parked and waded across the river to make a short hike to...
...this gorgeous beach.
The river meets the sea and results in some interesting sights on the beach.
Haratonga beach is yet another deserted, stunning New Zealand beach.
The Port Fitzroy store is well stocked with fruit & veg. Locally grown lettuces and salad fixins were our favorite.
With laundry clean and provisions acquired, Shout fills up quickly.
How exciting - a mobile coffee cart provides us with a flat white fix before we return to Whisper's not so flash coffee production.
Kiwi ingenuity at the Mussel Fest. A semi-submarine gives tours in the harbor.
We recognized the boat name from discussions with Tom & Barb on Gosi. With the American flag flying, we felt confident this must be the boat. We kayaked over and met Yvonne & Bill who arrived in New Zealand in 2005. They treated us to a yummy dinner of lasagne!
Yvonne and Bill from Windsong at the Mussel Fest.
As usual, superyachts flock to Great Barrier. This exceptionally pretty yacht showed up in Fitzroy.
Yowsa, see the little people on deck. This is a big boat.
We kept looking over at the barbeque with hopes of an invite. No such luck.
This giant motoryacht served as a navigational mark for us in the Mercury Islands. Here she is again in the Barrier. We later learned the boat is owned by a Brazilian family who owns 4 additional megayachts they keep in various locations around the world.
Getting up close and personal with a shag while kayaking.
This river gets a bit shallow in places - especially with two of us in one kayak. Perhaps we should have waited a little longer for the tide to rise and fill up the river.
The teals are quite friendly. Once they realize you are in the cockpit, they cruise on over to say hello.
Brown teals are quite prevalent in this area even though they are fighting extinction.
One more teal shot.
Whisper looks good.
We explored a couple of new spots this year. Nagle Cove is a very pretty spot. This tiny island, Oyster Island, is in the center of the cove.
Lots of launchies (motor boat people) like Nagle Cove due to its proximity to good fishing grounds.
We took advantage of the fishing grounds in this little anchorage outside of Port Abercrombie. While fishing, we spotted the Spirit of New Zealand passing by.
Here she is again.
Our ex-neighbor from Bayswater landed in Nagle Cove at the same time as Whisper.
The summer weather to this point has been fantastic. Forecasts indicated the remnants of Cyclone Funa were heading down toward New Zealand. Yuck. We chose to hunker down in the Port Fitzroy harbor area given the wide choice of anchorages and holding. We left Nagle Cove and Port Abercrombie heading back in to Port Fitzroy for a quick stop at the store before looking for a great spot to anchor. Every yachtie in the area had the same idea.
The day before the anticipated blow, Robin prepped enough food for several days in case things were not ideal for cooking. We psyched ourselves up for the upcoming weather. We were not psyched up for what happened next.
Duncan attempted several troubleshooting/debugging ideas to address the low oil pressure situation. Here is the oil screen. This looks like an easy thing to clean. Don't forget this is a Fischer Panda, so nothing is easy or thought out for maintenance - so the oil screen is located under the engine. The service department here in NZ recommends lifting the > 200 lb. genset engine to get to this little oil screen. Lift the engine?!
Lest you think we are only having fun out here, issues with the generator cropped up - again. We hoped the Fischer Panda would make it through the next cruising season based on all of the maintenance and repairs done to it over the last couple of years. Much to our dismay, the genset stopped with a low oil pressure indicator light only a month and a half in to this year's cruising. Wah!
After cleaning oil screens and performing an oil change, the genset remained silent. Just in case the problem was the oil pressure sensor, Duncan ordered an oil pressure sensor to be delivered to Whangarei. Yes, Whangarei. We learned our friend, Todd Rickard, was coming to Whangarei on business in a couple of weeks. With Todd coming and genset issues, we decided to make a trip in to Whangarei to diagnose the genset and more importantly, see Todd. Until we arrive in Whangarei, Whisper's charging consisted of running the engine with its little 75 amp alternator. Needless to say, we reduced our power consumption and water usage to help out with the situation.
Knowing the genset problem had to wait for diagnosis, we forged ahead with enjoying the Barrier until arrival in Whangarei.
Given lifting the engine a next to impossible task, Duncan cleverly drilled a hole in the fiberglass base of the generator which allowed access to the oil screen.
Not only did he drill the hole, but he added a handle to allow for ease of access in the future.
In search of the perfect spot for the big winds, we motored around scoping every anchorage to put ourselves in the most comfy, least stressful spot available.
Once anchored, we decided to relax with a spot of tea.
We had a good chance to look at some beautiful boats as we waited out the storm.
We love these old style Kiwi launches.
Then, there are newer boats out here, too. Hey, does that guy have on any clothes? With a boat name like Bad Kitty, perhaps he is a famous porn star.
Lots of helicopters flew around the area. This helicopter dropped off guests at the B&B in the background.
Scary guys in black outfits came zipping around the harbor. We guess this was some sort of a NZ Navy training drill.
The storm came through with lots of rain and wind, but, as usual, the Barrier proved to be a great place to ride out a storm. And look, the storm ended with a rainbow.
The winds stopped and we awoke to this gorgeous morning.
As always, Great Barrier proved to be a great playground in a beautiful setting as well as a comfy place to hang out during crummy weather. However, we have places to go and people to see. With Todd en route to the New Zealand, a dead generator and a bevy of new places to explore, we took the first opportunity to make the 40 mile passage over to Whangarei.